Reading The Life of The Lost Hero
by PJOloverforeva74
Summary: The typical clichéd demigods reading the PJO books, includes six of the seven, three old friends and a surprise guest later on
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, nor do I own the Heroes of Olympus or the characters from either/both series. All rights go to their author, Rick Riordan.

Super clichéd, I know, but I'm **hoping** to do the entire first series. I might not be able to update often but I hope you guys like it. :)

**Bold: from the story**

Normal: the goings on in the room

_Italics: characters' thoughts_

Nobody's POV

It had been a few weeks after the trio's quest to save Hera/Juno/Olympus's most annoying goddess, and they adjusted pretty quick to camp life. All the campers had been helpful with telling them all sorts of useful information; from battle strategies to riddles to tell sphinxes just in case.

But there was always one subject they would never touch, no matter how much Piper, Jason, and Leo begged, pleaded, and threatened with charm speak. Which was pretty impressive.

It was Percy Jackson.

They were all dying to know why. Why one camper could possibly impact the entire camp. Sure a disappearance is a big thing, especially if it's a kidnapping by the queen of the gods herself, but still, that didn't explain all that melancholy.

After their tenth try that week they decided to hit the beach.

"So...any idea why they're still not talking?" Leo asked, annoyed that they still had no answers even though it's been five weeks since they've arrived and no one would even try to explain why Percy Jackson was so important.

"Don't be an idiot repair boy. They're upset, it's only natural." Piper whispered the last part silently to herself.

"If only there was someway to make them feel better, and have them tell us about Percy Jackson." Jason sighed.

"Don't be rude Sparky." Piper scolded while Jason pouted, _Well, it could be worse. At least Leo hasn't come up with one._

"Yeah Pikachu be nice." Leo fake scolded.

_Spoke too soon._

"So, how should we ask them this time?" Jason sighed, knowing it would be hopeless.

"We could-" Leo started before a bright flash of light engulfed them.

line- :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):) -break

"Ugh, what'd we do this time?" Leo complained, feeling as though he'd been thrown off the top of the Empire State Building.

"Leo, Piper? You guys alright?" Jason called sounding disoriented but otherwise alright.

"I'm fine." Piper called

"Same. Any clue as to why we're here?" Leo asked.

Before anyone could answer another flash of light appeared depositing six more people, all looking equally disoriented. Three of them looked familiar. It was Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico. The other three didn't ring any bells to the trio. Although one of them looked like a satyr.

Annabeth was noticed them first. "Piper? Why are you here? You too, Leo, and Jason?"

"I don't know. We were just talking by the beach when we were flashed here."

"Glad to see you care about us so much Annabeth." The satyr said sarcastically.

"Sorry Grover it's nice to see you. You and Nico too Thalia." Annabeth added quickly to avoid unnecessary fighting.

"Wait...your Annabeth?" One of the two unknowns asked. He looked like a really buff, really tall, toddler teen.

"Yeah I am, but who are you two?"

"Oh, I'm Frank son of Mars, or Ares for you guys. And she," he pointed to the girl next to him. She was about thirteen with brown curly hair and bright gold eyes. "is Hazel daughter of Pluto/Hades."

"Ok, but how...how do you know me?"

"Oh, well Percy told us a lot about you. He never forgot you, even with amnesia."

Annabeth's eyes brightened more than they had been in the month that they've known her.

"Wait, what month are you guys from?"

"June, why?"

Annabeth visibly deflated, but still managed to smile. "We're," she said pointing to everyone minus the Roman duo. "In January."

"Oh. I'm so sorry." Hazel exclaimed, her eyes brimming with tears. She knew how it felt to have good things ripped away from her, she never wanted to inflict the same thing on other people.

"It's ok. We should probably try to find a way out of..."

When her voice trailed off all the other demigods started to pay attention to their surroundings for the first time since they were dropped off there.

The place was huge. In the living room( where they were currently standing) there were three long couches placed to form an inverted omega, the way the cabins were before the Titans War. In the middle was a long mahogany coffee table, on it were six books and a note. Behind the living room, deprecated by an island was the kitchen, fully decked out with all kinds of food. Coming off of the living room was two hallways on either side. The hallway on the left was marked guys, while the right one was marked girls.

There was probably more, but everyone was too stunned to even think about exploring.

"Um, hey guys?" Grover called bringing everyone back to reality. "There's a note here. It probably says how we get home."

"Go ahead goat boy." Thalia said with a fake bow and a smirk.

"Haha very funny Thals. Anyway it says:

Dear demigods, and Satyr-hey, at least use my name-we apologize for forcefully pulling you out of your time period but we have realized that this ignorance, and despair can no longer continue. Therefore we have frozen time so that you can read these books, and leave behind this atrocious act. You cannot leave until all these books are finished. There will be someone else joining you after a while. Enjoy

Sincerely,

The Fates, Apollo, and Hermes"

Silence

_Uh oh,_ Leo thought, _ if the Fates are in on this, then we must've been really bad._

"So?" Leo asked. "What are these books called?"

Grover took the first book, when he saw the title his eyes bulged out like characters from old timey cartoons.

"I-it's c-c-called P-Percy Jackson and t-the Olympians: T-The Lightning Thief" he stammered.

_At least we'll finally hear about his adventures._ Hazel thought.

"Um, I'll read first if no one else wants to." She offered.

Annabeth gave her a tired smile, "Go ahead."

"Ok, um

**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher..."**


	2. Accidentally Vaporizing Math Teachers

Hey I'm back! Here's a new chapter.

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians nor do I own Heroes of Olympus or any of the characters from either/both series. All rights go to their author Rick Riordan.

**Bold: from the text**

Normal: the goings on in the room

_Italics: character's thoughts_

"**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher**

"Classic Percy." Grover grinned.

"Are all the chapters gonna be like this?" Leo asked.

"Knowing Percy, definitely." Frank chuckled.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Who does?" Hazel said glumly.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"OH MY GODS! HIT THE DECK PERCY'S GIVING ADVICE!" Thalia and Grover shouted.

**Close this book right now.**

"Don't you dare Valdez."

**Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"That was okay advice." Said Piper.

"But it won't work." Annabeth countered

"But still!"

**Being a half-blood is dangerous.**

Everyone nodded.

**It's scary.**

"Yep." Piper, Hazel, and Frank agreed.

**Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

Everyone was quiet remembering all the friends and siblings they lost during the Titan War.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

** But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before **_**they**_** sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"Who is he talking about?" Leo asked. "Like is he talking about camp, or monsters?"

"I don't know, maybe both?" Annabeth guessed.

"OH MY GODS DID YOU HEAR THAT NICO?" Thalia stage whispered (shouted)

"I DID."

"IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! ANNABETH DOESN'T KNOW SOMETHING!" They shouted simultaneously while running around in circles.

"What the Hades?" Jason said shocked at how two of the Big Three kids were acting, one of which was his sister.

"You'll get used to it." Annabeth reassured him.

_Hopefully. _She thought.

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"You didn't warn me!" All the guys yelled.

"Piper, can you..?" Thalia asked.

"Of course." She answered Thalia, then using her charmspeak she turned to the guys. " Shut the Hades up."

**My Name is Percy Jackson.**

"No it's Peter Johnson."

** I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

** Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes!" everyone who knew him shouted.

"Was he a troubled kid?" Jason asked confused. _I hope my friends at Camp Jupiter aren't speaking about me like this._

Nobody answered him. (Do you get it? No?)

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"He admits it!" Nico said laughing crazily.

** I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan-twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

Jason perked up at "Roman", while Annabeth got a dreamy look on her face.

_That sounds like Elysium._

**I know-it sounds like torture.**

Everyone started laughing at Annabeth's expression.

"He was right, though." Grover muttered.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

_Too true._ Grover thought glumly.

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

Grover smiled at the mention of Chiron. While Annabeth narrowed her eyes, _why does that name sound so familiar?_

** Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool,**

"Yeah." Leo blurted out, and Nico was nodding his head as if agreeing.

**But he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put us to sleep.**

_I wish I had a teacher like that._ Everyone who didn't know it was Chiron thought that.

**I hoped this trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"As if. Trouble and him are best friends." Grover murmured sadly.

** Boy, was I wrong.**

"Yeah" Thalia snorted smirking slightly, "as always."

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

The whole room erupted in laughter. Leo, Grover, Thalia, and Nico were the loudest.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. **

"That," Leo choked out in between his laughing fit, "is epic."

**And the time before that… Well, you get the idea.**

"Nooooo!" The whole room moaned.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

Thalia and Annabeth looked murderous, while Nico felt some pity towards the girl, not a lot, but some.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. **

"Gee, thanks Perce." Grover said sarcastically while rolling his eyes, causing some laughter.

**He must've been held back by several grades with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Really Grover?" Piper asked him.

"What? They were good enchiladas."

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"That sucks." Jason murmured, startling everyone since they forgot he was there.

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"Yeah me too," Leo said "but in your hair?"

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"WHY GOAT-BOY?! WHY?!" Thalia and Nico shouted, clearly frustrated.

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

_That doesn't sound good._ Frank thought worriedly.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up in front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey**

_That's not a word Seaweed Brain. _Annabeth thought wistfully

**galleries, past the marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer." The demigods and satyr spoke in unison.

"Well…that was…odd." Said Annabeth clearly shaken up.

**"He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a Stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, **

Everyone who knew Percy were staring at the book in shock, as if they Hades suddenly appeared before them in a bright pink toga watching My Little Ponies with Zeus.

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

_Goat-boy…_Thalia thought sighing mentally, she'd given up on thinking he'd be more discreet ages ago.

_Mrs. Dodds…where have I heard that name before? Wait didn't he call her that…_ Nico glanced over to Grover to confirm it, only to see him mouthing 'spoilers.'

Meanwhile Jason tried to figure out what monster Mrs. Dodds was.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the Stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

"FINALLY!" Nico shouted.

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"It always does." Hazel interrupted herself, sighing softly.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**"Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

Thalia smirked. "Twenty drachmas he won't know it." She whispered to Nico.

"You're on."

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

Thalia handed the money over while grumbling something about knowing people. While Nico was thanking the gods that he got lucky.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…?"**

**"Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Bad Percy, bad." Leo scolded, sounding like he was talking to a dog.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And… he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

"How come Zeus was confused for a rock?" Leo wondered

"Yeah, why is dad mistaken for a rock." Jason asked Thalia.

"Well-"

"Moving on." Annabeth interrupted and gestured to Hazel to continue.

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"Did he just-" Jason started.

"Yep." Thalia interrupted.

"But…how?"

"It's Percy."

"How does that explain anything?"

"It just does. Don't worry you'll get used to it."

**"Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're ever going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "To paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

All the guys sang "Busted." They all hated Nancy.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Hey Jason," Leo smirked "you think like a goat."

"So do you."

"You should be honored to think like me." Grover said with a straight face while Jason and Leo were staring at him dumbfounded.

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

_Or horse ears._ Grover thought with a smile.

**"I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"Shocker." Annabeth stated sarcastically with a small smile.

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"That's a happy note?" Hazel asked looking rather green.

"Well, Chiron isn't the best at changing the topic." Leo answered with a shudder, he remembered that awkward conversation they had…

"How do you even-" Piper began.

"You do NOT want to know Beauty Queen."

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"Because they are." Thalia stated

"HEY!"

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go-intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

_Wow he really is perceptive. _Hazel reminisced about camp for a second before reading again.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"A typical Percy answer." Grover joked

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

_It was for the best._ Annabeth sighed.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have attention deficit disorder and I have never made above a C- in my life. No-he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

All the demigods could relate. Each remembering a time when their dyslexia or ADHD got in the way of school.

"Man, I wish I got dyslexia or ADHD." Frank mumbled, he thought no one would hear him. Unfortunately for him, Thalia did.

"You mean you don't have it?"

"No. All I got was lactose intolerance."

"LUCKY! Well, not the lactose intolerance, but come one that's so not fair!" Leo whined.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the Stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

_He probably was_. Thought Grover.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm cloud was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"What's up with the freaky weather?" the Lost Hero trio asked.

"Don't know. Annie and goat boy here never told us." Thalia and Nico explained.

Grover and Annabeth responded simultaneously: "Spoilers?" "Don't call me Annie!"

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"I didn't know he thought like that." Annabeth whispered to Grover.

"Neither did I."

Meanwhile Thalia, Nico, Hazel, and Frank were speechless. They never thought that he felt this way.

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius."**

"Really, I never knew." Thalia said jokingly, hoping to alleviate some of the heavy atmosphere.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

They all started laughing.

"Yes that's exactly the kind of philosophical comment I wanna get when I'm down." Leo said while laughing.

"I was hungry!" Grover muttered embarrassed.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

Everyone who knew Percy immediately stopped laughing.

"What's wrong?" Piper asked worriedly.

"Nothing." Grover said a little too quickly. How could they even begin to explain Percy's appetite?

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"He's such a mama's boy." Annabeth said fondly with a smile.

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Both Leo and Frank asked simultaneously.

"No." She said carefully.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"I am SO making that!" You can guess who said that.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"That f-" Thalia started.

"Language!"

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Didn't you know? Spray-painted Cheetos are all the rage in Europe." Leo said in a bad French accent.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**"I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

_YES!_

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"**

**"-the water-"**

**"-like it grabbed her-"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

"Oh COME ON! She so deserved it!" Thalia and Nico shouted at the book.

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"NO! NEVER guess your punishment!" Leo shouted.

"It's rule 13." Nico added.

"You guys have been hanging with the Stolls way too much." Thalia sighed. She gestured for Hazel to continue.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Duh."

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"You are one brave goat-boy." Nico said seriously.

"Er, thanks?"

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But-"**

**"You-will-stay-here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

Everyone sans the LHT (Lost Hero Trio) shuddered.

"You do NOT want to be on the receiving side of that." Nico said with a shudder.

"If it's anything like his wolf stare then I don't doubt you." Frank responded.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast**

**"I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things. **

"It's not Seaweed Brain. It's the Mist."

**I wasn't so sure.**

"That's right Kelp Head listen to your instincts."

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"Seriously Seaweed Brain/Kelp Head?!" Thalia and Annabeth shouted exasperated.

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"I never really realized just how sucky his luck is." Frank stated.

"Yeah, he probably has the worst luck out of all of us." Annabeth sighed.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

_Hopefully. _Everyone who didn't know the story thought.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

_Of course it wasn't, because that would be too easy._

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"Does anyone else think that this is a major No-No?" Leo said suddenly

"A what?" Thalia asked perplexed.

"A monster, duh."

"…"

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

"Yep definitely a monster."

"Really Leo, I would've never guessed."

"Weren't you paying attention Piper. Tsk, tsk I expected better from you."

"…Hazel can you continue?"

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it…**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing.**

"WHAT!" Everyone who knew Percy shouted.

"What's wrong?" asked Jason more than a little confused.

"You see Jason, Percy never, NEVER does the safe thing." Thalia answered looking as if everything she knew was a lie.

**I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

"Oh sure be respectful to the f-" Nico started to say sarcastically.

"SPOILERS!" Grover yelled.

"-but not any of the immortals that might incinerate you." Nico continued as if Grover never interrupted.

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Keep thinking that amigo, and it won't end nicely." Leo said surprisingly serious.

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am."**

Leo started cracking up uncontrollably.

"Um, Leo what's up?" Jason asked awkwardly.

"You guys don't get it?"

"Get what?"

"Heh, nothing. Nope, definitely nothing." He said struggling to keep a straight face.

"Oo-kay."

_How can they not get that he said he would try harder to not get caught? And they think I can't get a clue._

**Thunder shook the building**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

Everyone started cracking up, Leo, who had been laughing the entire time was rolling on the floor.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Hey it was a good book!" Annabeth said defensively.

"Sure it was Annie, sure it was."

"Don't call me Annie!"

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed."**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"A FURY!" Everyone sans Annabeth, Grover, and surprisingly Nico yelled.

"Di immortales! Why didn't anyone tell me?" Thalia growled.

"There was never any time, Thals, you know that." Annabeth whispered.

"I know it's just…I thought we were close; you know? It kinda stings that after knowing you guys as long as I do you never told me."

"I know. If it makes you feel any better he never really told us either, we just overheard, or figured it out."

"I guess." _But I wonder what else he hasn't told us?_

**Then things got even stranger.**

"How?" Leo asked.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"Did Mr. Brunner loose a few screws, 'cause I'm sure a pen can't do nothing there. Unless he wants to write on her." Leo whispers to Jason and Piper.

Everyone else has knowing smirks.

_Good ol' Ripetide._

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

**"She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally:**

**I swung the sword.**

"I don't know about you guys but, I'm pretty sure running in terror comes naturally not swinging a sword." Frank said awestruck.

"He is the best swordsman in the past three hundred years." Annabeth said with a proud smile.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**

"Did he just...?" Leo asked uncertainly

"Yep." Nico answered

"On his first try?"

"Yep."

"With no training?"

"Yep."

"THAT IS SO AWESOME!"

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. **

"Does anyone else notice that he compares everything to water or the beach?" Hazel interrupted herself.

"I guess it's a son of Poseidon thing." Nico reasoned.

**She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

"He's still letting the mist affect him?" Piper wondered aloud, effectively scaring everyone. They all forgot she was there.

"Yeah, it made explaining these things to him a pain." Annabeth said after she recovered from her shock.

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Yes that's exactly what happens whenever we encounter monsters, we ate magic mushrooms." Nico said sarcastically.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

"NO!" Leo shouted.

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" Nico, Thalia, Jason, and Leo asked simultaneously.

**I said, "Who?"**

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! We think like Percy!" Thalia and Nico screamed running around and acting like they were dying.

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?""**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

_Grover…_Thalia, Annabeth, and Nico thought exasperatedly.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

**"I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"You know it makes sense now." Grover spoke up suddenly.

"What does?" Annabeth queried curiously.

"Why he doesn't do the safe thing."

"How?" Nico interrupted.

"Well the one time he does it, it all goes to Hades. Would you still do the safe thing if it'll end up like this?"

"I guess you have a point." Nico said grudgingly.

"Um, that was the end. Who wants to read now?" Hazel asked.

"I'll go." Thalia volunteered.

**Chapter two: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

I don't own PJO or HOO or any of the characters all rights go to Rick Riordan.

A/N: Just a little FYI, Nico is from after BOO, so he's doing good and doesn't have a crush on Percy anymore, so he'd feel more at ease being with other people cough*Annabeth*cough, and is happily dating Will, because he deserves to be happy. So…sorry Pernico, and Thalico fans. Also his relationship with Percy, and Thalia is more sibling like after he got over his crush.

PJO = What's going on

"PJO" = What characters are saying

_PJO = Character's thoughts_

**PJO = What's happening in the book.**

**Chapter two Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**

_If this is what I think it is then Seaweed Brain is dead._ Annabeth thought.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. **

"…Wait, what? What other weird experience has he had?" Leo wondered aloud.

**This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. **

"I don't think people would put the effort to pull a prank on one kid…" Jason trailed off uncertainly.

"Well, he was kind of on edge after Mrs. Dodds." Grover tried to explain.

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on the bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"That's cuz he is psycho." Thalia whispered to Nico.

**It got so that I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

"Bet you five drachmas that it was Grover." Leo stage-whispered causing said satyr to blush.

"No one is going to take you up on that Leo." Annabeth said exhaustedly, ignoring the fact that Frank was trying to quietly put his wallet away.

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me. **

_I was right. _Leo thought rather upset.

**When I mentioned the name Mrs. Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Wow, hermano, your lying skills are awful. You know for just five drachmas I could give you some lessons." Leo told Grover seriously.

"Um…I'll think about it…?"

**Something was going on. Something ****_had_**** happened at the museum.**

"And the award for Captain Obvious goes to…Percy Jackson. Huzzah!" Leo proclaimed dramatically.

"And the award for Sergeant Sarcasm goes to our very own Leo Valdez." Nico dead-panned.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in cold sweat.**

"The first monster is always the worst." Hazel said sympathetically.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"What's got their togas in a twist?" Leo asked half-jokingly, half-serious.

"HA! I'm NOT the only one to say this!" Grover exclaimed victoriously at a scowling Annabeth.

"Um…am I missing something?" Leo asked slightly concerned for the mental stability of the satyr. "You know for five drachmas; I could give you some counseling sessions if you ever question your sanity…"

"Everything's fine, someone is just hung up on something I told him years ago." Annabeth explained. "And what's with you and drachmas?" Annabeth added as an afterthought

"I…I want some Dr. Pepper and I'm short five drachmas for the Stolls to make it happen. So, why are the gods all pissy?"

"You'll find out."

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

Annabeth started laughing hysterically while everybody else just stared at her. When she finally calmed down, she just ignored their confused looks and waved Thalia on.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

"Wow," Piper said thoughtfully. "His track record is worse than mine."

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was home sick.**

_I wonder if he's home sick now? _Thalia wondered a little saddened by the thought.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"Paul doesn't play poker…" Nico said trailing off uncertainly.

"Yeah, and doesn't he like Paul?" Thalia asked confused.

"This…he was before Paul." Grover muttered looking slightly defeated.

**And yet…there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend **

"Aw, Thanks Perce." Grover said smiling.

**even if he was a little strange. **

"…never mind."

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well. **

_That's because you can Seaweed Brain_

**As exam week goy closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"That's good." Jason remarked quietly.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one- eighties as if they were riding skateboards.**

"…I'm kind of glad I don't have dyslexia now." Frank murmured to Hazel.

"Yeah."

**There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"They're not that bad." Jason said, his fellow Romans nodded their heads agreeing.

"It might not be for you guys, but we're hard-wired for ancient Greek, not Latin." Thalia explained.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

"Worst feeling ever." Leo stated. Ignoring the questioning looks thrown his way as he (cautiously) waved Thalia to continue.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. **

_Same_. Thought Leo

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried. **

"At least he's trying." Hazel remarked.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... Worried about Percy, sir. "**

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, **

"I beg to differ." Leo said trying to keep a straight face as he pretended to act like an attorney. "All the evidence proves otherwise, do you have anything to add to your defense, Mr. Jackson?"

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Touche."

**I inched closer.**

**"... Alone this summer, " Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him, " Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more. "**

"We're still waiting for that." Thalia said in mock exasperation.

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead-line-"**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can. "**

"We'd probably be dead with Kronos as supreme captain." Nico said, a little begrudgingly.

**"Sir, he saw her..."**

"Yep, and now he's hearing you and your top secret meeting about him." Leo added 'helpfully'.

**"His imagination, " Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. "**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again. " Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean. "**

"What does you mean by again? Everyone sans Thalia and Annabeth asked Grover.

Annabeth, mercifully saved him by saying a cryptic; "You'll see."

**"You haven't failed, Grover, " Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"NO! WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! RULE NUMBER 13 PERCY!" Leo, (and surprisingly) Nico, and Frank shouted at the book.

_I'm not even gonna bother._ Thalia thought.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

"Good, good, get rid of the evidence." Nico said with a slightly manic gleam in his eyes, with Leo and Frank nodding enthusiastically in the background.

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

_Oh, it's Chiron._ Thalia thought.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing, " he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice. "**

**"Mine neither, " Grover said. "But I could have sworn ... "**

**"Go back to the dorm, " Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow. "**

**"Don't remind me. "**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

"So probably five minutes." Annabeth clarified.

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey, " he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful. " He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... Tired. "**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression,**

"Not gonna work." Grover all but sang.

"Yeah but he didn't know that." Leo piped up, mentally adding _Neither did I_.

**and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"That's not gonna work." Thalia muttered under her breath before continuing.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"Isn't he always?" Annabeth joked.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy, " he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... It's for the best."**

_Ouch._ All the demigods thought.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. **

"She's dead." Annabeth promised, her voice hard.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir. "**

**"I mean ... " Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time. "**

"He really isn't good at this is he?" Leo murmured quietly, understanding, somewhat how Percy might've been feeling.

"What do you mean?" Frank asked.

Leo simply said, "You'll see."

**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"Oh."

**"Right, " I said, trembling.**

**"No, no, " Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... You're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-"**

"That was a dam train wreck." Thalia muttered under her breath

**"Thanks, " I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

**"Percy-"**

**But I was already gone.**

"That…could've gone better." Grover admitted sadly.**  
On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Hey _I'm _not a nobody. You and Annabeth are." Grover said with a smile as Annabeth and he laughed at their inside joke, trying to get everybody's mind off the fact that Percy didn't think of himself as important.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

"That's awful…" Piper whispered feeling guilty that she had been so proud of her record before.

**"Oh, " one of the guys said. "That's cool. "**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

_That was rude._ Hazel thought somewhat upset.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"STALKER ALERT!" Leo yelled out the same time Nico shouted:

"You're a stalker with hooves!"

Poor Grover had a flash back to when Nico first arrived to Camp Half-Blood, when someone else told him the same exact thing…before finally snapping back to the present and choking out an indignant: "I am not!"

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"Way to give goat boy a heart attack Kelp head." Thalia snickered.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

"NEVER CONFESS!" oddly enough it was Frank who yelled that.

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... Not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"Not much he says, more like the entire conversation." Grover huffed good naturedly.

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ... "**

**"Grover-"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ... "**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar. "**

"Even Percy agrees with me. Now for only five drachmas-"

"Leo."

"Shutting up now."

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."**

**The card was in fancy script, **

"Why script?" Jason asked curiously.

"Mr. D likes watching demigods suffer." Annabeth explained.

**which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009-0009**

**"What's Half-"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... Summer address. "**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay, " I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion. "**

**He nodded. "Or ... Or if you need me. "**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"That was harsh." Nico stated with a wince.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"At least it wasn't on purpose." Hazel said quietly earning a nod from Nico.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you. "**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

"Oh. When he said you guys were close I didn't expect that." Annabeth said quietly.

"Yeah, he always tends to hang out with people who get bullied, doesn't he?" Grover replied just as quiet. "Even though he could easily be popular if he wanted to be."

"But he doesn't."

"Yeah."

**"Grover, " I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

"Oh nothing much, just monsters that want to eat your demigod-ish-ness…" Leo trailed off _that is a word right?_

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

"Well, isn't that ominous?" Piper muttered sarcastically

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. **

There was a loud grumble resounding scaring everyone, after finally calming down; everyone stared at Nico, who managed to look sheepish about the loud noise.

"Sorry, forgot to eat…I'll just grab a snack. You guys can read on ahead."

**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Nico paused before sitting down again thinking, _Or not_.

"Di Immortales. He never told me…You never told me…" Annabeth murmured sounding anguished, broken, betrayed, and angry with just those few words.

_She's not talking about what I think she is, is she? _Thalia thought vaguely hoping that she was wrong, at least in this instance.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

_No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!_ Annabeth thought frantically.

"Calm down Annabeth it wasn't his, okay? He's safe." Grover murmured reassuringly in her ear, trying to soothe her before she gave herself a panic attack.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me. **

_Gods, no._ Hazel thought with tears in her eyes. She grabbed Frank's hand in a death grip so tight he thought he'd lose circulation in his hand. She wasn't alone, everyone seemed to realize who those three were and they were terrified for Percy, despite the fact that they knew he was alive.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny, Perce." Nico said sounding strained.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all. "**

No one even mentioned the parallels they were too involved with what was happening in the story.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus, " he told me. "Come on. "**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there. "**

"Just listen to him for once." Thalia interrupted herself, more frustrated than angry at this point, _Why hadn't the Kelp Head said anything?_

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, **

Everyone seemed to go pale at this point, Annabeth and Thalia seemed to be taking it the worst.

**and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"Neither, it was obviously for el Chupacabra, duh Percy." Leo said in a mean girls' impersonation hoping it would diffuse some of the tension. It did, less than what he was aiming for, but at least he got some smiles and no one looked like they were going to pass out, so he counted that as a victory.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

"How convenient." Nico deadpanned.

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

_That was just the after effects of being in their presence._ Grover reflected.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. "Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

"Everything." Leo whispered.

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

_They are so much worse._ Frank thought with a grimace, remembering his own unfortunate ties with them…

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. **

"No kidding." Piper muttered.

**He said, "Just tell me what you saw. "**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn. "**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older.**

_Huh, I didn't think he'd notice that._ Grover thought surprised.

"I'm surprised he's so observant." Annabeth noted slightly shocked that he'd notice something as seemingly insignificant as that gesture.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord. "**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"More like a _huge_ deal." Jason stressed, worrying about Percy. At first, he kind of hated the guy. Not because he seemed like a jerk, but because everyone held him on a pedestal. They made him seem as though he were untouchable, godly even, that he started feeling completely out of his depth since everyone expected him to act as a leader representative for Camp Jupiter. He just felt completely overwhelmed, and slightly jealous, when Hazel had mentioned that Percy became praetor within the week, while he was still struggling two months after figuring it out. Reading this, helped make him seem more human, more relatable. He was glad that Percy also struggled, that he didn't just immediately become a hotshot over night, even though Jason had to admit, killing a fury on his first try was pretty bad***.

**"This is not happening, " Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time. "**

"Anybody know what he's talking about?" Leo asked curious.

"You'll see." Was all Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover said; ignoring the slightly betrayed look Nico sent them when they wouldn't tell him.

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth. "**

"You should probably stop before he gets freaked out." Nico stated, still slightly miffed at their slight.

**"Grover, " I said, because he was really starting to scare me.**

"Told you."

**"What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me. "**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

_Some promise that turned out to be._ Grover thought sourly.

"I'm guessing he didn't follow through?" Frank asked hesitantly.

"I think I don't even need to answer that?"

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

"So he did realize it." Piper said softly, upset that this was happening to Percy right from the get go.

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"Way to boost his confidence goat-boy." Thalia mock scolded. "I'm done. Who wants to read next?"

"I'll go." Grover volunteered. Then cursed. "Styx, I just had to get this one didn't I?"


End file.
